18.10.09

Quotes from Drucker

Recently I have been reading Managing the Nonprofit Organization by Peter F. Drucker.Great, great book. One of the best books on management and leadership. I didn't know much about Drucker's Christian upbringing and influence of faith in his world view.

Here are some quotes from the book:
Self-development (...) Self-renewal (...). Both are action. You become a bigger person, yes; but, most of all, you become a more effective and comitted person. So, I conclude by asking you to ask yourself, what will you do tomorrow as a result of reading this book? And what will you stop doing?


When I was thirteen, I had an inspiring teacher of religion, who one day went right through the class of boys asking each one, "What do you want to be remembered for?" None of us, of course, could give an answer. So, he chuckled and said, "I didn't expect you to be able to answer it. But if you still can't answer it by the time you are fifty, you will have wasted your life."


One prays for miracles but works for results, St. Augustine said.


There are also true believers who are dedicated to a cause where success, failure, and results are irrelevant, and we need such people.

11.10.09

Doubt

These are from one of the movies I watched recently, Doubt:

Father Brendan Flynn: A woman was gossiping with her friend about a man whom they hardly knew - I know none of you have ever done this. That night, she had a dream: a great hand appeared over her and pointed down on her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day she went to confession. She got the old parish priest, Father O' Rourke, and she told him the whole thing. 'Is gossiping a sin?' she asked the old man. 'Was that God All Mighty's hand pointing down at me? Should I ask for your absolution? Father, have I done something wrong?' 'Yes,' Father O' Rourke answered her. 'Yes, you ignorant, badly-brought-up female. You have blamed false witness on your neighbor. You played fast and loose with his reputation, and you should be heartily ashamed.' So, the woman said she was sorry, and asked for forgiveness. 'Not so fast,' says O' Rourke. 'I want you to go home, take a pillow upon your roof, cut it open with a knife, and return here to me.' So, the woman went home: took a pillow off her bed, a knife from the drawer, went up the fire escape to her roof, and stabbed the pillow. Then she went back to the old parish priest as instructed. 'Did you cut the pillow with a knife?' he says. 'Yes, Father.' 'And what were the results?' 'Feathers,' she said. 'Feathers?' he repeated. 'Feathers; everywhere, Father.' 'Now I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out onto the wind,' 'Well,' she said, 'it can't be done. I don't know where they went. The wind took them all over.' 'And that,' said Father O' Rourke, 'is gossip!'

Sister James: It is unsettling to look at people with suspicion. I feel less close to God.

[last lines]
Sister Aloysius: Sister James...
Sister James: What is it, Sister?
Sister Aloysius: [crying] I have doubts. I have such doubts.